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Contributed by: Karen WilsonJohnson on 12/8/2006

It took two hours to clear customs in Maputo, Mozambique-an hour of that spent negotiating with a customs agent who wanted a $241 cash deposit on the camera and tripod. The agent ultimately settled for $20, then promptly stashed it in her pocket. This was not how Colorado photographer Karen Wilson-Johnson had envisioned her first trip to Africa, but then much of her perspective changed during her three weeks shooting in the rural villages of South Africa and Mozambique.

Images created during her time in Africa are currently on display at a new gallery space installed at Wilson/Johnson Creative, the marketing design firm owned by Karen and her husband Rob Johnson. Featured are more than sixty photographs of the extraordinary people she encountered this past September, while documenting the work of two relief organizations.

"It was an amazing experience," Wilson-Johnson explains, "to document the efforts of people who daily make a difference in the lives of people affected by poverty, hunger and AIDS. The organizations I worked for are small and homegrown; indigenous to the countries in which they work. Because of that, their understanding of the nuances of the culture and the people with whom they work make them highly effective. Their efforts are mammoth though their resources are miniscule; their attitude humble and realistic. Morning comes and they simply go about doing what they can - this day. And in doing so, they quietly and without fanfare are making tomorrow measurably better for the people they serve - especially the children."

The organization in South Africa is called Helping Hands in Africa, based three hours north of Johannesburg, in Mafikeng. It began fifteen years ago with a single feeding program started in a village where children foraged for food each day at the garbage dump. They now provide six villages with feeding programs, caregivers to AIDS patients, transportation to health clinics, grief therapy and much more.

In Chokwe, Mozambique, work is just beginning. Project Vukarani is a children's home/community center; the dream of one dedicated African pastor that is becoming a reality thanks to the support of a Colorado-based non-profit: Africans Orphaned by AIDS. Construction of the new center is reaching its final stages. Though originally scheduled for completion in September, construction was delayed just before the photographer arrived in Chokwe to document its opening. The walls had nearly reached roofline when a local official suddenly decided the permit issued was wrong and would need to be torn down and started over using 17" rather than 15" bricks.

With luck, Project Vukarani will open in January 2007. Wilson-Johnson won't be there to photograph the occasion but that, in her mind, is of little consequence. When it does open it will, at last, provide a home for children who have no one and nowhere else to go. It will also be a resource to many others on a day-basis, providing food, clothing, help with schooling, job training and more.

Knowing these small but essential organizations are using her photography to communicate their stories to further their work is extremely gratifying. The photographs Wilson/Johnson selected to hang in their gallery represent only a fraction of all she shot but they speak loudly of her personal experience. When asked to describe her experience in words, she sums up it up this way: "I did not return from that very complex, very amazing continent considering myself in any way an authority on Africa, or the AIDS crisis. I did, however, return with a changed perspective and heart; along with a couple hundred gigabytes of digital images. AIDS in Africa, I realized, is something we should all be aware of and care about. It's collapsing the center support of African society, the family. People in the prime of life are dying at extraordinary rates, leaving the very old to care for the very young - or the very young to care for younger siblings - or worse, leaving no one to care at all.

Two conversations I had there helped frame the crisis for me. In Mozambique, an American missionary put it this way: 'When the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2005, it tragically killed an estimated 185,000 people and shocked the world. Throughout Africa, AIDS kills that many every 50 to 60 days'. A South African pastor asked me to ponder this: 'Here, too many children are growing up without parents; denied the benefit of that unique love, guidance, nurturing and example that shapes forever our adult lives. Imagine our world a generation or two from now in which these children are raising children.'

The challenges facing Africa can easily seem overwhelming. But for every overwhelming problem I observed - hunger, poverty, AIDS - I also saw in the faces I photographed, tremendous hope, resilience, and possibility. That, for me, makes it worth extending a hand up where and when I can. That, for me, made my job as a photographer the most satisfying work I've done in 25 years. "

Anyone interested in seeing the Portrait of Africa photographs is welcome to visit the gallery space at Wilson/Johnson Creative, Monday through Friday, 9a.m.to 5p.m. at 969 South Kipling Parkway. For directions to the gallery or for more information about the important work being done by Africans Orphaned by AIDS and Helping Hands in Africa please call 303.989.2277 ext.3.

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Submitted By: Sylvia Lane

posted on 12/13/2006 @ 7:08:44 PM

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I enjoyed the story, it was personal and emotional

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Submitted By: Dee Ohi

posted on 12/9/2006 @ 4:55:54 PM

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I learned a great deal about AIDS in Africa. The pictures touched me

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Karen WilsonJohnson

Lakewood , CO

Karen WilsonJohnson has posted 2 stories and 0 comments since joining on 12/8/2006. Karen WilsonJohnson 's average story rating is 4.75.

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